CFAA Champions' Circle
Excellence in Every Classroom. Champions in Every Child.
A huge shout-out to Ms. Gibbs for making every instructional minute count! Even during restroom breaks, she keeps students engaged by reviewing spelling patterns and words, turning transition time into meaningful learning opportunities. Thank you for being intentional, maximizing instructional time, and reinforcing learning beyond the classroom. This is a great example of how What You Do Matters!
A huge shout-out to Mrs. Ferrusca for her planning and organization of our Book Character Parade! Thank you for creating a fun and memorable experience that brought our favorite book characters to life and celebrated the joy of reading!
A special thank-you to everyone who participated in our Trunk or Treat! Your creativity, enthusiasm, and willingness to go above and beyond made the event a wonderful experience for our scholars and families.
Both events provided great opportunities to engage with our families, strengthen school-home connections, and build a sense of community. Thank you for helping create meaningful experiences and lasting memories for our scholars and families!
A huge shout-out to Ms. Garcia for giving CFAA an outstanding digital presence! Through her creativity, dedication, and attention to detail, she does an amazing job showcasing the wonderful things happening across our campus. Thank you for capturing special moments, celebrating our scholars and staff, and keeping our families and community connected to CFAA. Your work helps tell our story and highlights the excellence happening every day!
A huge shout-out to Mrs. Ferrusca, Ms. Davis, Ms. Williams, and Mrs. Monreal for their diligence and persistence in ensuring 100% of our families completed their SchoolCafé applications!
Your teamwork, consistent follow-up, and commitment to supporting our families made this accomplishment possible. Because of your hard work, CFAA will be celebrated with a special treat from the district! 🎉 Thank you for going above and beyond and showing that every detail matters when it comes to serving our scholars and families!
Excellence is Our Standard!
CHAMPIONS MAKE ADJUSTMENTS
Championship teams understand that winning isn't about having a perfect game plan. It's about recognizing what isn't working and making the necessary adjustments to get results.
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls didn't wait until the end of a game to make changes. They studied their opponents, recognized challenges, and adjusted their strategies to stay ahead.
The same mindset applies to our classrooms at Central Fine Arts Academy.
As we continue through the second quarter, we have valuable information from assessments, exit tickets, student work, and classroom observations. The power of data isn't in collecting it; it's in what we do with it!
🎯 FOCUS: MONITOR, ADJUST, ACHIEVE!
This week, let's focus on using evidence of student learning to make intentional instructional adjustments that lead to mastery.
Our Instructional Priorities:
Know the Score: Review exit tickets, district assessments, and student work to identify which TEKS students have mastered and where gaps remain.
Make In-Game Adjustments: Don't wait until the next assessment to address misconceptions. Adjust instruction in real time based on student responses.
Differentiate with Purpose: Use small groups, targeted reteaching, and enrichment to respond to students' individual learning needs.
Monitor the Impact: Use aggressive monitoring and checks for understanding to determine whether instructional adjustments are producing results.
Hold the Standard: Maintain grade-level rigor and high expectations while providing the scaffolds students need to succeed.
💡 THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE: TURN DATA INTO ACTION!
As you plan and deliver instruction this week, ask yourself:
What does my student data tell me? What am I doing differently because of it? How will I know my adjustments worked?
Remember, teaching the lesson is not the finish line; student mastery is!
Championship teams don't make excuses when the scoreboard isn't where they want it. They study the results, make adjustments, and get back to work. Let's continue holding ourselves accountable for the learning taking place in our classrooms. Every adjustment, every small-group lesson, and every opportunity to provide meaningful feedback brings our scholars closer to success.
Monitor with purpose. Adjust with urgency. Teach for mastery.
🏆 Excellence is the Standard.
🎨 One Team. One Mission. One Masterpiece in the Making.
Masterpiece in the Making: Excellence Is Our Standard.
GRADING SYSTEMS
DISD Grading Guidelines will be adhered to throughout the school year. Teachers should read the guidelines and know the district’s expectations for grading. Grades are to be updated in Skyward on a weekly basis. Parents should be encouraged to view their students’ grades online; therefore, Monday is the official day for ensuring grades were uploaded for the prior week. This will be monitored by administrators. Report cards are sent home every nine weeks. Progress reports will be sent home on the 3rd and 6th week of the 9 weeks grading. You will be provided a schedule of when grades must be verified in order to have progress reports and report cards printed in a timely fashion. Recording grades in a timely fashion is not only a district and campus expectation, but part of your professional responsibility, and must be attended to. If a student is passing at three weeks, but his/her grade falls prior to the end of the nine weeks, you need to contact the parent so they are informed and the student has a chance to bring up the grades prior to the end of the nine weeks. NOTE: Most negative “public relations” arise over shocking grades. Please communicate in advance and on a regular basis with your parents/guardians. No student is to fail without the parent first being notified. A Student Success Plan must be completed each 9 weeks for each student that fails each grading period and must be turned in to administrators.
Grades are based on the student expectation of the TEKS. As teachers, it is our job to set kids up to succeed, not to fail. Our guiding question must be: “Am I grading in a way that makes sense?” There are multiple ways for students to demonstrate understanding, show proof of effort and earn partial credit; handing in a hard copy should not be the only thing that counts. It should be our expectation that failure is not an option – that a student should be re-taught and re-assessed to record a reasonable grade. Grades recorded as zero are hard to recover from. Surely if the student was present in the room during instruction he learned “something”. Assignments, tests, projects, classroom activities and other instructional activities shall be designed so that the student’s performance indicates the level of mastery.
Naming Conventions for Grades: TEKS- Lesson name; ex: 4.6F- inference WS pg. 2
Additional videos have been added to your account. Please make sure you view them by the due date.
District leaders will be reviewing lesson plans to check internalizations and slides. Your lessons will be used as they conduct calibration walks. It is imperative that lesson plan folders are kept updated each week. Please make sure your lessons and slides are shared as "anyone with the link can view".
Below is the calibration walk rubric that will be used as district leaders observe lessons.
Remember to bring:
internalized lesson/unit
exit ticket completed/ unit assessment completed
assessment data- Be prepared to discuss strengths, opportunities, and next steps for your class.
WE will review slides customized- Be prepared to discuss where your customized your slides. Be prepared to discuss where you added CFU's, interactive notebook, and pacing adjustments.
Refer to the email sent by Mrs. Safford on Saturday, September 5.
Campus YAG- Updated Frequently
Campus PD YAG- Updated frequently
- November 2-District PD
- November 3- Campus PD
- November 3- Faculty Meeting
- November 11- Veteran's Day program
- November 12- Picture Day
- December 4- Career Day
- December 7- Great Night of Reading
- December 16- Winter Gala
Duncanville ISD, in the City of Champions, is also home to an exceptional group of teachers, staff, and students who demonstrate what it means to be “Made With Pride in Duncanville.” So many of those people deserve special recognition for going above and beyond. You can nominate a teacher, staff, or student who demonstrates the following, they:
Drive Growth- builds others up and prioritizes self-development,
Value People- builds trust and demonstrates integrity,
Inspire Results- thinks ahead about challenges and plans for good results,
Lead Change- is resilient and adapts to change,
Learner-Centered- values learning and fosters inclusivity, or
Elevate Excellence- encourages high expectations.
Over the year, we will highlight our amazing student, teacher, and staff honorees. These are the people with stories that will make your heart swell with pride and tell your friends about their accomplishments. The recipients will make you delighted to say they are “Made With Pride in Duncanville.” A teacher, staff member, and student are selected each month. The honorees will be recognized by school leaders and receive a gift. He or she will also be featured in a video and recognized at a Duncanville ISD Board of Trustees meeting.
Use the link below to make your nomination today!
December
Veronica Orosco- December 29
Central Fine Arts Academy
Email: aparker@duncanvilleisd.org
Website: https://central.duncanvilleisd.org/
Location: 302 East Freeman Street, Duncanville, TX, USA
Phone: 972-708-2600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CentralFineArts
Twitter: @Central_ElemSc